Food and Beverage
Changing lifestyles, a belief that wine is good for your health, and the scrapping of import duties on wine have contributed to a stunning 200% increase in the consumption of wine in Hong Kong over the last five years.
Between 2006 and 2011, consumption of wine in Hong Kong grew by 195% in terms of quantity and 201% in terms of value.
What is even more impressive, while fully 60% of the wine consumed globally is in the under US$5 a bottle range, the majority of wine consumed in Hong Kong is in the more than US$10 a bottle range.
Asia’s Top Wine Consumers
With a population of just over 7 million, Hong Kong is now the third largest consumer of wine in Asia – after the region’s two biggest economies, China and Japan, which take first and second place.
With a population of 50 million, South Korea, which comes in third, consumed 2.17 million cases of wine in 2011 against 2.93 million cases in Hong Kong, which has roughly one-seventh of the population.
When it comes to per capita wine consumption, Hong Kong clearly puts its Asian neighbours to shame. People in the former British Crown Colony consume twice as much on average as their counterparts in Japan and Singapore, four times as much as those in China, and more than five times as much as those in Taiwan.
Top Five Per Capita Asian Wine Markets
Here’s how much wine people in Asia consumed on average in 2011.
- Hong Kong – 5 litres
- Japan – 2.4 litres
- Singapore – 2.2 litres
- China – 1.3 litres
- Taiwan – 0.9 litres
Where Their Wine Comes From
Hong Kong people tend to favour expensive French wines. Here’s a breakdown of the top five countries their wine is imported from.
- France
- Australia
- United States
- Chile
- Spain
Favourite Alcoholic Beverages in Hong Kong
Here are the top seven alcoholic beverages in Hong Kong other than wine or beer.
- Local Spirits
- Whisky
- Cognac/Armagnac
- Gin/Genever
- Vodka
- Other Brandy
- Tequila
These figures are from a survey conducted by International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR) for Vinexpo. They were released at a press conference on 13 March 2012 in Hong Kong.
Twenty-eight wine producing markets and 114 wine consuming markets are covered in the survey.